July 24, 2017

Hi Y'all!! 

This week was so crazy, but being at Trainer Trainee, and Zone Conference was so awesome! Those were definitely some of the highlights  of the week! 

One of the biggest things I learned at Zone Conference was all about the spirit. I absolutely loved how we talked about the spirit more and how as missionaries we always have to have the Holy Ghost in order to help people progress, and to help them really be converted. I loved President Holland's story about the two elders and how he brought his brother home all because of the Holy Ghost and they were quick to follow the promptings of the spirit. I thought a lot of my forty day fast and what I can do to make sure I am always having the companionship of the Holy Ghost with me so that Sister Banks and I are always in a threesome instead of a twosome. The biggest thing that stuck out to me was my language. I recognized that I use so much slang and it is so terrible! Of course I don't use any bad words, but I recognize that my language is not as good as it could be and I need to remember that I am truly a representative of Jesus Christ I am not in college or at a job, I don't need to be sounding "cool, or be like everyone else in the world" If I am to make sure the spirit is my constant companion then I need to not use slang anymore.  I recognize that that is just a small thing I can do , but I know that when I stop using slang that the spirit won't have any reason to leave, that it truly will be my constant companion as I am striving towards that! The other thing that I loved and learned in Zone Conference was all about teaching the doctrine of something. I love the quote in Preach my Gospel that says something along the lines of teaching the doctrine will change behavior quicker than a study of behavior will change behavior. It makes so much sense that we should be teaching our investigators the doctrine behind going to church, or reading the Book of Mormon, or praying- they don't know the doctrine, they don't understand the importance like us missionaries do! So those are the two things that I am striving to do- have no more slang in my vocabulary and to start teaching the doctrine behind baptism and the sacrament and praying and so many  other things!  

Like I said earlier, this week was pretty crazy. I don't know what was wrong with me on Tuesday but I felt so out of it. We still went out because of the car fast and I felt more fine in the morning, but as we were walking around in the heat Sister Banks said I just got more and more loopy... on Wednesday I was still kinda out of it, but it was better than the day before! Then we had Zone Conference, and Trainer Trainee and those were both just so incredible! Lastly, this morning we experienced a miracle! We were doing our laundry at the laundromat and there was only one other man that was there. Sister Banks and I both felt impressed to talk to him but we just didn't know when. We were both thinking that we would talk to him after our studies, then we were going to talk to him after we were planning but we never got around to it. Finally as we were walking towards the door we both just stopped and said hi to him! Turns out that he is from Uganda and he is a less active member in the Yankee Hill ward! He had never seen sister missionaries before and so he was super excited to see us and talk to us! We set up an appointment but the elders will go over there! It was just so awesome to know that we needed to be there for a specific reason to talk to Samsom today! 

Well that Is pretty much it! Thank you for all you do President Gardner! I love you so much!! 

Love, 

Sister Rook 

Trainer-Trainee Meeting!

Zone Conference

Trainer-Trainee Meeting

Zone Conference

Trainer-Trainee Meeting

Zone Conference

Trainer-Trainee Meeting

Last p-day... this was our lunch.. a loaf of bread haha 

This was our 5 minutes of fun on car-fast day! We did a quick photoshoot in the corn! 

More Zone conference pics!

Donut shakes on Pday! 

Almost twins! 

More Trainer-Trainee

This a a fam that came to church yesterday, and their son is serving in the Rancho Cucamonga Mission!! 

I didn't know I loved Apple Valley this much until I talked to them haha 

July 17, 2017

I have no idea what to put for the subject this week :D

 Hi Fam!! 

Oh my Goodness. This week has just been truly incredible! Holy Moly. There were so many miracles that we saw! I am so excited for this upcoming week as well, with Trainer Trainee and Zone Conference! It is going to be the best!! 

There are three specific miracles or the highlights of the week that I want to share with you!

1. Monday we were out finding, and it was about 7:20  and we decided that we were going to try one more house before we drove to our appointment. Well, we tried one more house and they ended up rejecting us. Sister Banks then says to me, "Well, that means we have to try one more house then!" We looked around and we both felt impressed to try the house across the street. The man answered the door and his name was Jamie (pronounced hay-me, he is from Guatamala) He speaks very good English, so we were super excited that we would be able to teach him and his family rather than passing him off to the elders. We taught him the Restoration and he expressed to us that he had read the Book of Mormon 20 years ago! He was excited to have another book, and he asked for one in Spanish because it was easier for him to read. He wasn't able to come to church on Sunday, but we are seeing him this week! Also, during weekly planning Sister Banks and I both felt impressed to pass him off to the elders, we don't want to haha but we are going to be obedient to the promptings of the spirit. We know that the Elders should teach him for some reason!

2. The next miracle is during the car fast! We both wanted to explore a part of our area that we hadn't been to yet. So we drove out there and it was all pretty much farm land. I have to be honest my faith was kind of wavering. I didn't know what we were going to do for the whole 7 hours that we were going to be in that area. So we got out of 

 the car and we must have talked to every house that was close by, the houses were pretty spread out... but we did it! We came back and did 12 week and comp and had lunch and all that then we had about and 1 hour left. We knew that someone was in this area that needed us so we were going to find them! I felt a little "iffy" about trying the houses across from a Buddhist worship center but Sister Banks and I felt that we needed to. On the second to the last door we knocked, we met Victor! He is from Russia, and we were able to teach him the Message of the Restoration! He committed to be baptized on July 29th! It was so awesome to recognize that we needed to be in that area for a reason even if it was just for Victor! He couldn't make it to church, so we will have to change his date, but we were able to see him on Saturday as well!  

3. The last miracle is Hector!! He was able to come to church on Sunday, and he absolutely loved it!! The speakers in sacrament meeting were supposed to speak on the importance of being worthy to hold a temple recommend, but instead one of them just shared his conversion story. It was absolutely perfect, and Hector went up after sacrament meeting and gave him the biggest thank you! After church he came up to me and told me that he absolutely LOVED priesthood meeting and that we would definitely see him at church next Sunday. It was just incredible to see our ward switch, I was a little worried that the ward wouldn't fellowship anyone if they came to church, but I was so surprised. And I was so grateful! I definitely need to work on my faith and stop doubting! 

Sister Banks is doing awesome! One of her goals this week is to not complain about having to be obedient, and she has been doing great! It has helped her to see that she doesn't have to be obedient grudgingly- but that by being obedient is how she will have the most joy on the mission! It is something that I am continually working on myself! Overall, I am just so thankful for her and what she has taught me! 

In my studies this week I drew another diagram!! That morning for workout we had run around the capital building and then we had run up and down the stairs at the building about 20 times. Needless to say my legs were on fire haha. So naturally my diagram was a ton of stairs and each step had a part of the Doctrine of Christ. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, and the Holy Ghost. and then I had drawn arrows going up the stairs and down the stairs and that represented Enduring to the End. I recognized that if Sister Banks and I had just gone up and down the stairs just once- that would have been good, but going up and down them multiple times was better because it kept us going and we were able to have a better work out. Well, it is the same way with the Doctrine of Christ. It is okay if you just live it once, but how much better is it if you keep on living it over and over again? You would just have continual joy! 

Well, I think that is about it for this week! Just know that I love y'all so much! Thank you for all the support you give me!! Also, I would love to hear what is going on in all y'all's lives! My address is...

1331 G. St. #309

Lincoln, NE 68508 

Love,

Sister Rook

Interviews and District Meetings!

 

This was us on car fast day... we were in the middle of nowhere! I am pretty sure we passed by 2 dairy farms to get to where we wanted to go! haha 

This was the Buddhist worship center that we found haha 

Another pic of the Buddhist worship center! 

Us during our dinner break yesterday... we were going a little cray! 

July 10, 2017

Hi Fam! 

This week has been a little crazy with the Fourth of July, exchanges, and going to the temple. It has definitely helped me so much and I am so grateful for the spiritual guidance I have received! 

Sister Banks! 

She is doing awesome! She is a little reluctant to do 12 week, but so are a lot of other missionaries when they come out here. So we do it, and I hope she is learning something from it! On exchanges Sister Bengtzen and Neuberger did it with us and I think it helped her to realize that not only her crazy trainer wants to do 12 week but so do other people! The STL's will be doing 12 week with us on Thursday as well, so hopefully it will help her! I know it is helping me! Exchanges were really good for Sister Banks. She was able to learn so much from Sister Bengtzen and from the people that she taught. Also, on Friday while we were at the temple, Sister Banks was with Sister Uffens, and they were absolutely incredible! They talked to everyone they saw and they taught so many restoration lessons! They saw so many miracles together, and they were able to set goals for themselves of what kind of missionaries they wanted to be! Overall, Sister Banks is doing great, she's not homesick, she is so diligent and she wants to be obedient! I am so happy that she is my companion- she is just incredible! 

Highlights of the week!

1. 4th of July!! It was our P-day, and we were able to go with our investigators, Matt and Cindy, to a member in the Holmes Lake ward. They put on this huge "ward party" and we were able to go even though it wasn't our ward! It was so much fun! Right when we got out of the car a car with two companionship's of elders drove by, we had no idea they were going to be there as well, so it was a little awk, but we got over it! Sister Banks taught me how to throw a football, and I have to brag a little bit... she said my spirals were straight gold haha! 

2. Exchanges!! I was with Sister Neuberger and it was a blast! I just love her so much and It was so awesome being with her- I definitely learned a ton and for that I will be forever grateful!!. 

3. I got to go to the temple on Friday because I passed off level two of the scriptures we can memorize! It was so awesome being able to go there!! 

This week we did a lot of finding and no one was interested at all- it was pretty strange. I was used to that from being in Omaha, but I haven't really experienced that in Lincoln yet, so this upcoming week will  be so much better and we both have the faith that we are going to find people to teach and that we will be able to set them for baptism, and they will be able to come to church! 

In my studies this week I am in Alma chapter 52, and in this chapter Moroni was very strategic (he always is) about how he was going to win over the Lamanite's territory that they had overtaken. He made sure that all of his men were well rested and that they were always " fresh" . It made me think of ways that I can help myself to always be fresh and not be weary throughout the day. And it also gave me the opportunity to ponder about our investigators to help them be more fresh throughout the week, so they can truly be prepared to have spiritual experiences. As a part of my forty day fast I have picked 7 weaknesses that I want to change. So I focus on one weakness per week. On Sunday nights I plan out my studies for that week (a specific question for everyday) and then on Sunday I am able to take that weakness to the sacrament table and hand it over to the Lord. It has been so awesome to do and it has truly helped my studies even more. I am really able to feast upon the words of Christ, and be filled everyday! This was something Sister Neuberger and Sister Bengtzen have been doing as well! 

Well that is pretty much it! Thank you for all you do President! I love you! 

Love, 

Sister Rook  

Exchanges! 

More exchange pics 

Temple trip 

My Best friend is getting married!!!! 

Tryin to teach Sister Banks how to be a  thug... it didn't really work haha

4th of July breakfast with our ward!!

Photo Shoot!! 

More pics! 

One last one of me haha 

Mat and Cindy Lawson!